Improvement in flax and hemp machines



J". STEWART. *FMX AND HEM? MACHINE.

No., 172,519. Paftented Jan.. 18, 1876.

'NITED STATES FFIG.

PATENT JOHN STEWART, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No'. 172,519, dated January18, 1876; application led June 18, 1875.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN STEWART, of Brooklyn, county of Kings and Stateof New York, have invented certain Improvements in Machines for DressingFlax, Hemp, &c., of which the following is a specification:

This invention has for its object the dressing or cleaning of brousmaterials, as flax, hemp, &c., after leaving the brakes; and theinvention consists in the use of a reciprocating set of feeding orguiding rolls, with a continuously-revolving beating cylinder, by whichthe broken shives are driven or beaten from the lint, as willhereinafter appear.

Figure l is a side elevation of the machine, and Fig. 2 is a plan viewof the same.

The frame, as at A, is preferably made of iron, and upon it, in suitablebearings, is mounted a shaft, as at B, which carries thebeating-cylinder C, which is merely a plain cylinder, either of wood ormetal, which is provided with a number of beaters, as at D, whichconsist of ribs of hard wood, or other similar substance, placedparallel to the axis of the cylinder, and whose outer edges extend outfrom the surface of the cylinder, to serve as beaters in a correspondingconcave that nearly surrounds the cylinder, as shown at E. Said beatersrevolve in close proximity to a pair of guide-rolls, as at F and Gr,mounted in suitable housings, as at H, which are furnished with set orbinding screws, as at K, for pressing the rolls together', there beingsome kind of elastic boxes or caps between the journals of the upperroll and the set-screws, to compensate for the unequal thickness of thematerial as it is fed to the machine from a table, as at L, which alsohas converging sides to convey the broken ax, Ste., toward the center ofthe machine or the beating-cylinder, as shown at Fig. 2. Said rolls arefurnished with uted surfaces, fitting into each other as toothed wheels,so that they revolve together, and the lower roll has upon a projectingend of its axis a small pinion, as at M, all which receives motion froma toothed rack, as at N, which is fastened upon a plate that works in adovetailed groove in a bracket, as at O, that projects from the frame,and is attached thereto. Said rack receives motion from avibratinglever, as at P, which is pivoted near its center to one side ofthe frame, and one end of said lever is attached to the rack-plate by alink, as at R, and the other end is connected to a crank-pin by a rod orbar, as at S, said pin being mounted upon the outer face of agear-wheel, as at T,

which engages with a pinion on the shaft of the beating-cylinder throughsuitable intermediate gearing, as at U, for reducing the speed, it beingnecessary that the said beater withdrawing it, and so on, acting untilthe operation is completed.

As the action of the feed-rolls is as great in one direction as theother it will be found at times quite convenient to feed the materialforward at an angle to the axis of the rolls, so that when the beaterssweep it down in the concave it will not be entirely withdrawn from themachine by reversing the motion of the rolls, and for this reason thesides of the table are greatly inclined, and so also that two personsmay attend the machine at the same time.

I therefore claiml. In a flax or hemp dressing machine, the combinationof a pair of reciprocating feedrolls with a continuously-revolvingbeatingcylinder, substantially as described, and for the purposes setforth.

2. The combination, with the upper feedroll F and the lower feed-roll G,having the pinion M, of a rack and its lever, the beatingcylinder, andsuitable intermediate gearing, substantially as described.

JOHN STEWART.

Witnesses:

CHARLES WA LL, BOYD ELIoT.

